


Of wizards and black knights

by elareine



Series: Advent Calendar 2019 [8]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, Developing Relationship, Flirting, Knights - Freeform, M/M, Rescue, Scheming, medieval elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-08
Updated: 2019-12-08
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:41:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21635281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elareine/pseuds/elareine
Summary: “Kill the wizard!”Not this shit again. That was a lot of people to take down at once.It was a good thing Roy had a knight ready to come to his rescue.
Relationships: Roy Harper/Jason Todd
Series: Advent Calendar 2019 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1558834
Comments: 6
Kudos: 96





	Of wizards and black knights

**Author's Note:**

> Advent calendar day eight: "Kill the wizard!"

The villagers were gathering. 

“Kill the wizard!” 

Uh-oh. 

Not this shit again. 

Roy wasn’t a wizard, he was just… very good at handling a technology that was about seven hundred years too advanced for this planet. Literally all he’d come to do was repair their fluctuator, and that was how they thanked him? 

“I’m sure there is some misunderstanding,” he told them placatingly as he rose up from his crouch. Man, he really needed to make sure not to concentrate so hard on what he was doing at any time. Check out of reality for five minutes and come back to a mob. It was getting to be a habit. 

The mayor of the town stepped forward. “You wear the mark of a witch!” 

Roy sighed and said in the most reasonable tone he was capable of: “They’re connectors and energy patches. Now, I know that doesn’t mean anything to you, but they’re perfectly harmless.” 

The villagers stared at him. 

“What is he talking about,” one woman asked. 

Roy pointed at the blue markings along his arms. “Those?” 

Somehow, that got the crowd to laugh. It did not put Roy at ease at all. “As if we need those when your evil ways are written in your face!” 

“Hey!” Roy protested. It wasn’t that bad a face, was it? Then it caught up with him. “You… Are you talking about my freckles?” 

“Your witch mark.” 

Roy had to laugh. “No, it’s just different pigmentation of the skin. Just spent too much time in the sun, man.”

“Do not try to blind us,” the mayor snarled. “You will burn!” 

Those were actual torches that those people were lighting. They were actually serious. What the fuck. 

With the twitch of a muscle, Roy’s bow appeared. Considering the slowly advancing mob that did not look at all surprised at or daunted by the sudden presence of a weapon, he set the setting to’ stun’… for now. 

Still. That was a lot of people to take down at once. 

There was a roar, and then a black motorcycle quite literally fell from the sky. Its rider, a tall, hooded figure, headed straight for Roy. 

A whisper went through the crowd. “A Black Knight!” 

“Jay!” Roy grinned. 

The bike circled the group twice, showering them in particles of dust, then came to an abrupt halt right between them and Roy. It was quite dramatic and over-the-top, but it achieved its purpose: The crowd back off enough that Roy could make a run for it. 

Gloved hands helped pulled him up. “Need a ride?” 

“As far as ten dollars will get me, please.” 

“Hang on!” The Black Knight revved up the engine. Lines of red glowed in his hands as he activated what Roy lovingly called the fight-or-flight protocol. 

They hadn’t been quick enough. There was the sound of a horn, and then there were… horses. With knights on top of them, clad in improbably perfect-looking ‘medieval’ armor. Roy couldn’t quite help but sneer at them. Whoever came up with the simulation these people lived in had no imagination whatsoever. 

The mayor looked both absolutely freaked out (presumably at Jay’s appearance) and triumphant (the other knights.) “We called in reinforcements! You will not be able to escape, unholy witches!” 

“Well, fuck,” Jay commented as the bike finally started picking up speed, trying to avoid a collision. “Now might be a good moment for that explosion.” 

“What explosion?” Roy yelled back, trying to sound innocent, which was quite tricky when yelling. 

Jay was having none of it. “Just do it!” 

“Alright, alright.” The tips of Roy’s left thumb and pinkie touched, and the world went up in flames. 

“Nice.” Jay whistled, but he wasn’t slowing down. The bike accelerated even as the village disappeared behind the horizon, and then they were jumping. 

Jason’s jumps, as always, were a dizzying mix of colors and the feeling of time dropping. He made up for it in quickness. It didn’t take more than a minute before they were in Jason’s lair. 

It was a bit sterile—a large mirror on one side, grey floors and walls, a ‘glass’ ceiling that fizzed when it let them pass through, two beds and a table with stairs the only accessories that weren’t related to weapons or transportation—but Roy liked it. The sun was always shining, the food was decent, and the company made more than up for the lack of decor. 

Now that he thought about it, he was starving. 

“Anything good in there?” Roy gestured toward the food replicator when he was back on firm ground. 

“Lo Mein?” 

“Acceptable.” 

“Be my guest, then.” 

Roy plopped down at the table, turned the replicator on, and watched Jay pack away his weapons in the precise order he always kept them in and make sure his bike was stored safely. 

“So. What did you do to get yourself labeled a wizard this time?” Jay asked as he worked. 

“Turns out, it’s one of those places that hasn’t caught on to the nature of our universe yet.” Catching sight of his himself in the mirror, he frowned and poked at his cheeks discontentedly. “Those haven’t been this inconvenient since high school.” 

“I like them.” 

“Huh?” Roy turned around. 

Jay looked like he wanted to shovel his way back into his own grave, but he soldiered on: “I like your freckles. They’re like, pretty and shit. You shouldn’t let these assholes get to you.” 

Roy smiled. “I wasn’t, but thank you.” 

“Whatever,” Jay grumbled and handed. “Eat.”

Roy obeyed. They ate in companionable silence, and Roy didn’t feel the need to break it until they were finished. 

“Hey.” Roy gently knocked his shoulder into Jay’s. “Thanks for the safe there, buddy. Again.” 

“You saved me first. Figured I owe you.” 

Roy laughed. Now Jay was really laying it on thick. Not that he minded. “That clash with the black masks? Nah, you would’ve been fine eventually—” 

“Not that. Back on Gotham.”

“What do you mean?” Roy frowned. 

He knew the planet; of course he did. Someone who had once been a good friend hailed from there, and Roy had visited a few times during the quarantine. He’d tried to smuggle in stuff from the outside, then; had run a few operations with Dick before the Council finally lessened the restriction on food imports after about a third of the population had starved to death. 

Surely he hadn’t met Jason then, had he? 

“Never mind.” Jay shrugged, and Roy knew that would be the end of the discussion. For now. “But you _are_ making life a lot harder for me with those stunts, you know.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah. Should just take me with you next time.” 

It took Roy a second.

“Jay,” he asked, delighted. “Are you asking me to be your partner?” 

Jay looked away, a faint blush dusting his cheeks. “Whatever. We can be a duo, or something.” 

“Sure thing,” Roy grinned. “We’ll be the best.” 

“Duh.” 

It had taken about three more explosions than Roy had expected, but _finally_. 


End file.
